Poets

She was born into a literary family and became an antiquarian, book collector, and calligrapher. Of her six original volumes of lyrics, only about 50 lyrics remain.

In Stephen Owen's chapter, "The Snares of Memory," it concentrates on Li Ch'ing-Chao's Afterward to Records on Metal and Stone. He believes that Chao's account is filled with memories of her happy times in her married life and her tremendous bitterness toward her husband for the excessive value he placed on this material collection.

Chao opens the afterward with a comparison of two men, Ch'ang-yu and Yuan-k'ai, deluded by the importance of their possessions. She refers to their love of collecting as "hoarding," as a "disease." Using this as a backdrop, a reader can understand Chao's ambivalent feelings toward her husband's love for his collection of the inscriptions and vessels.

In relating their experience of collecting their treasures, Chao initially emphasizes the experience of sharing their passion for knowledge and beauty. She relates how Chao Te-fu brought home the rubbings and fruit and they would then sit together and munch on the fruit and admire his latest find. They would savor the treasure, the fruit, and their time together.

One of the few works Chao mentions by name is the painting of peonies by Hsu Hsi. Yet this is the work they could not afford to purchase. Owen calls attention to the idea that by not acquiring this work, it is recorded in memory. The possessions they acquired are ..